


This time I have to know that I'm the only one

by KaylenaKey



Category: 9-1-1: Lone Star (TV 2020)
Genre: Anxiety, Competition, Friendship, Jealousy, M/M, Oblivious Carlos, Reassuring friends, ex-boyfriend
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-19
Updated: 2021-01-19
Packaged: 2021-03-18 04:48:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,831
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28861326
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KaylenaKey/pseuds/KaylenaKey
Summary: Carlos' ex returns to Austin to work on a case with him.T.K. can't help but feel insecure about himself.
Relationships: Carlos Reyes/TK Strand
Comments: 17
Kudos: 127





	This time I have to know that I'm the only one

T.K. was fine. I mean, yeah, he just found out that his boyfriend was working on a case with his ex-boyfriend, who looked almost as hot as Carlos himself, but T.K. was completely fine. Maybe apart from the jealousy rising up his neck, and the nervous tapping of his foot and the stressed biting of his bottom lip as he watched the both of them laughing over a joke.

_"Oh, hey T.K., meet Kyle. He works with me on a recent case", was how Carlos introduced them together. "Kyle, this is T.K., my boyfriend." T.K. looked up at the man, offered him a small smile and his hand, which the other shook. "T.K., nice to meet you. You made a good catch with that one, trust me", Kyle said while pointing at Carlos, who let out a laugh. "He's definitely a sight to behold." T.K. felt like he was missing something. "I feel like you two do not just work together...", he conjectured with an open question. Kyle just chuckled and answered: "You are one hell of an observer, I give you that. We used to date." T.K. was glad that he was not sitting, because if he was, he would have probably fallen down from his stool. Carlos used to date that hot, attractive, charming guy? He gulped. That was some serious competition. And they were working together??_   
_"Oh", was all he managed to say, surprise clearly written on his face. "Kyle works at the department of public welfare in Dallas. The recent case I'm working on brought him back to Austin", Carlos was explaining, but T.K. just didn't get it. Okay, they were working together, that was nothing he could stop, but why would Carlos spend time with his ex outside of work?_

"Would you please stop this, you're starting to make me nervous too", Marjan suddenly spoke to him, startling him. "I'm not nervous." Of course it was a lie, T.K. was freaking the hell out. Marjan knew that, knew him, and just said: "Sure you do. You look like you're about to explode. Dude, chill, there's nothing to be worried about!" "Have you seen the guy?", he asked, disbelief in his voice, as he waved his hand over to where Kyle was standing at the bar, waiting for his drink, with Carlos next to him. "T.K., Carlos loves you, okay? That guy won't change that. They probably broke up in good terms and now they just wanna catch up with each other. And you said it yourself, the guy will only be in the city until their case is finished." T.K. wanted to believe that, but something just felt off about this. He couldn't keep his eyes away from them, studying each and every movement either of them made.

He got pulled out of his staring, however, when Michelle joined them at their round table. "Oh how nice, Carlos brought Kyle. I haven't seen the guy in years. Glad to see he's doing okay. Have you met him already?" T.K. felt like puking. Through gritted teeth, he replied: "Yes. I have."  
Michelle mustered him, realizing what was going on. Then she laughed. "T.K., calm down. You have nothing to worry about." Gosh, could people just start being realistic, for T.K.'s sake? "Oh really. Because what I'm seeing is a very attractive guy flirting with my boyfriend and from the looks of it, he's letting it happen all too happily!" "You think that's flirting? You should have seen them at the beginning of their relationship. Seriously T.K., you can relax. Nothing is happening over there, trust me." Somehow, that didn't calm him down at all.

Even Paul joined in on the conversation now, obviously annoyed by T.K. not doing anything about the situation. "If it bothers you so much, why don't you just go over there and see what's going on." "No. Carlos will think I don't trust him." "Yeah, which you clearly don't. Also, I'm pretty sure he already picked up on you staring at him. The man's a cop after all." T.K. drew his tongue over the corner of his mouth, thinking of the words Paul just said. He was right. His behaviour right now didn't exactly scream "I trust my boyfriend!".  
For the first time in 10 minutes, he pulled his gaze away from the cop and the welfare worker, to look at his friend. With a defeated sigh he mumbled: "Yeah, I guess you are right." Paul put his hand on the worried man's shoulder and squeezed supportedly.

T.K. was still anxious, though. Anxious that this seemingly perfect guy would be able to steal Carlos' heart away again. That things were happening behind his back when they were at work. Scared that Carlos might realize that he still has feelings for Kyle, and decides to go back to him, knowing he would be much less complicated than his recent boyfriend.

He knew he couldn't keep up with a guy like Kyle if he tried to. The man was muscular, had a smile you only saw in dentist commercials and most of all: he was uncomplicated. T.K. could tell that by how care-free the man came off. T.K. was starting to doubt himself. Maybe he wasn't good enough for Carlos after all. Maybe there was a reason for Kyle to come back to Austin, and his only purpose was to win back Carlos' heart.

He was interrupted of his thinking when the two men made their way back to the round table. "Michelle, it's been forever! So good to see you!", Kyle immediately cheered as he saw Michelle and pulled her into a tight hug. The two of them fell into a conversation soon, and Carlos made his way over to T.K., draping an arm around him. "Are you good baby? You seem a bit nervous." "Yeah. I'm good." He didn't want to come off so harsh, but he was too frustrated to make an effort to try to keep cool. "What is it?", Carlos asked, voice going a bit lower so only T.K. could hear him. "Nothing", T.K. murmured before adding: "I need another water." He freed himself from Carlos' grip and made his way to the bar, avoiding the questions.

"What's going on with him?", Carlos asked the team as he watched T.K. walking off. "Seriously?" Marjan and Paul asked at the same time. Carlos was confused by that. "You can't be that oblivious dude, c'mon!" "What are you guys talking about?" Paul leaned a bit closer, so that Kyle wouldn't hear him. "Maybe it has something to do with you inviting your 'very attractive' ex-boyfriend to our hang-out bar. T.K.'s words, not mine!" "He said that? Wait, is he worried-" Carlos couldn't help but laugh. "Alright, just let me fix this real quick", he added and made his way over to the bar once again.

He grabbed T.K. by his waist, turned him around and smashed his lips on his boyfriend's. They melted into a passionate kiss, hands all over each other. When Carlos pulled away, he couldn't stop himself but marveling on T.K.'s flustered face, tinted with a hint of confusion. "Baby, you have nothing to worry about! I love you. Only you! This thing with Kyle had been over a very long time ago!" Why did everyone keep saying that he didn't have anything to worry about? Everyone would be worried at that, T.K. knew that! "Well, that didn't look like it was over yet!", he reasoned shyly. Carlos put his hands on the smaller man's cheeks and looked him deeply into his green eyes. "I'm sorry if it bothered you. We stayed friends after we broke up, and I haven't seen him in years, we were just catching up on things. But you are right, I didn't think about how that would make you feel." "I'm sorry too. I just couldn't help but think that you might want to go back to him" "You thought I had still feelings for him?" He couldn't hide the surprise in his words. "I mean... yeah, he's so perfect and I'm-" Carlos interrupted him before he could finish that ridiculous sentence. "-And you are perfect to me!"

T.K. looked up at him, being met with soft eyes that couldn't lie. He smiled. "I promise you, there is nothing going on between Kyle and me and there never will be again. There's a good reason we didn't work out." "What was it?", T.K. questioned. "None of us wanted to be the bottom", Carlos said with a smirk. T.K. couldn't help but laugh at that, feeling himself relax. He raised his eyebrows. "Really. That's the reason you broke up?" "I mean it was definitely a part of the reason", Carlos joked, before giving a serious answer: "No, the main reason was that we realized that we were moving too fast. We were very good friends before we started dating and we figured out pretty quick that the feelings we had for each other weren't really romantic ones. So we decided to go back to being friends. And stayed that for years without thinking about a relationship again. So, no worries."  
"I feel like a fool. I'm sorry for being so harsh and absent." "No, don't apologize, tiger. I probably should have warned you and told you the whole story before I brought him to our Friday night hangouts. And if you feel uncomfortable with him around, I'm not going to invite him next time." Now T.K. felt bad. He didn't want that. He trusted Carlos. He knew that he had nothing to be disstressed about, now. "It's okay. He seems okay. And Michelle likes him too, it would be cruel if you didn't invite him again. But I also want to have more of you when we're here!", he practically demands, watching a smile appear on Carlos' face. "I think I can do that."

They kissed again, then T.K. grabbed his water and they went back to the others. At first T.K. struggled to be nice to Kyle and act as if he's interested in his stories; there was still a little bit of jealousy inside of him, but soon he realized that the guy really was a genuine person who didn't try to steal Carlos' attention. And when T.K. watched how loving the man was around his team and himself, he decided to give him a chance.

Maybe not all ex's have to be bad guys. All of T.K.'s were, but that didn't mean that it would be the same for Carlos. The guy probably just had a better taste in men than him. Though, when T.K.'s gaze fell on Carlos, he was sure that his taste wasn't bad at all!

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys! First story since the release of the new season, wohoooo!!  
> I haven't seen it yet (hell, in my country we don't even know when it'll be released) but I heard about them cutting out the two cutest scenes!! Like, that makes me really sad right now, I was so looking forward to them.  
> But I won't rant about that, I'm still positive that they have a good reason for it (like, maybe using them as a flashback or something, idk!?)
> 
> Anyway! Enjoy this little story :)


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